The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-11-08
A NOVEL TAUGHT HIM THE TRICK
$4,000 Obtained by a Young Cuban
on Forged Check and Found Hid.
H., a. Ma. Uo,l. c,,,

on a Forged Check and Found Hid.
From the Neto York Sun.
A well-dressed young man, whose char
acteristic face proclaimed him Cuban,
presented check for So, 900, purporting to
he signed by A. Y. Quintane for Fernan-
DEE Brothers, of Havana, at the Bank of
Commerce shortly after noon on Friday,
with letter to the cashier, reading as fol-
lows:
The immediate object of this is to present our
clerck, book keeper of ours house in HAVANA
Mr. E. R. Arguelles. Please use to pay our
check for $4,000, order E. r. Arguelles. Re-
spectfully, FERNANDEZ Bros,
per A Y. Quintane.
Mr.. Sherman, the cashier, had previously
received by mail letter similarly signed,
which ran thus:
Will you please pay our check to the order Of
2. R. Arguelles for $1,000? That is our clerk in
Havana.
The handwriting of the letters was differ
emit, but the signatures were alike, and they
seemed to be Quintane's. He is the New
York agent of the sugar and tobacco house
| of Fernandez Brothers, in Cuba. The sig
nature of the check seemed to be all right,
and the check itself was made out on one of
Mr.. Quintane's blanks. Nevertheless, Mr.
Sherman took the precaution of sending the
check to Mr.. Quintane's Office to have the
signature acknowledged. The young Cuban,
who seemed to understand English, al
though lie couldn't speak it, remained in
the bank while this was being done, Mr..
Quintane was out, but one of his two clerks
who was in the Office, said he thought the
signature to the So, 900 check looked like
that of his employer.
Mr.. Sherman, therefore, paid over the
money without having the dark complex
toned stranger identified. He gave him
three 81 600 bills.
| When Mr. Quintane got back to his office
the clerk told him of the check, and he at
once rushed to the Bank of Commerce to de-
nounce it as a forgery The cashier then
hurried to Inspector Byrnes' Wall street bu-
reau, and Detectives Won Gerichten, Null
vey and Mulry Immediately set to work.
AS professional scamp would have cleared
out of the bank the moment the sigma
ture of the check was questioned
they concluded they had to deal with
an amateur, and as the description Of the
forger tailed with that of one of Mr., Quin-
tanes clerks, who was out when the b nk's
messenger called, they brought the Jerk,
whose name is Joseph Quintaro, to the
bank to see if any one could identify him.
Cashier Sherman thought he was the man,
but the messenger was positive he was the
clerk he had seen in Mr.. Quintanes office
who had caused the check to be cashed by
saying the signature looked like that of Mr..
Quintane. He was accordingly not de-
tained.
The detectives, however, searched Mr..
Quintanes office. In one of the scrap bas-
kets they presently found a torn envelope
directed to the Cashier of the Bank of Com
merce and further search discovered the
fragments of letter which, when put to-
gether, proved to be a draft of one of the
letters introducing R. G.. Arguelles Armed
with this proof, the detectives collared
Quintaro at his home at 22S Bedford
avenue, Brooklyn. At the Central Office.
Inspector Byrnes, through an interpre-
ter, bulldozed him, after the French
| fashion, into confeSsing his guilt. He
said he had been led to committing his crime
by reading in some novel of a similar
swiudle. The three 81 900 bills were found
under the carpet of the flight of stairs lead
| ing to Quintaros room on the fourth floor
at 22S Bedford avenue. When searching
Mr. Quintane's office, the detectives were
puzzled by discovering two shallow holes
drilled around the combination of the safe.
Quintaro, in his confession, said he had
made the holes with the idea of making it
appear that thieves had been in the place
and stolen the blank form used for the
| forged check. Quintaro has been but six
months in this country which accounts for
the queer English of his letters.